Business, international

Little pioneers: Necessity is the mother of invention for China's laid-off workers as they flock to become their own bosses

Article Abstract:

An estimated 11.5 million Chinese workers had been laid off by the end of 1997, and the number is expected to increase to 17 million during 1998. However there have been several entrepreneurial success stories from laid off workers who have set up their own businesses. There are few available statistics, but laid off workers have set up less than 10% of the 83,000 registered private companies in Shanghai, although around 153,000 laid off workers have been re-employed by private companies since 1994.

Frozen assets

Article Abstract:

Sterry Chong, managing director of Top Green International (Hong Kong) runs a franchised TCBY yoghurt operation in Huzhou, China, Macau and Hong Kong. Chong claims to have made a loss over the two years to November 1996, but is investing in marketing with a view to making his business as successful as those of Kentucky Fried Chicken and McDonalds. Elizabeth, Gouw, retail analyst, believes that China, which has been penetrated by a number of ice-cream makers, has a potential for growth.

Credit crunch

Article Abstract:

There is conflict between Visa and Mastercard in China. The fight began when Mastercard announced that it had 71.7 billion dollars of credit-card business in China in 1995. This is refuted by Visa, which suggests that Mastercard is inflating the market by including irrelevant fund transfer and cash advance figures. According to a Nilsen report, the market was 8.5 billion dollars in 1995, of which Mastercard had 4.3 billion dollars and Visa 4.2 billion dollars.